My Grandparents Are An Interracial Couple

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My maternal grandparents are an interracial couple. My grandmother was born and raised in Japan and my grandfather was raised in Oklahoma. Roughly around 60 or so years ago my grandfather was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The rest of their story is history, they fell in love and got married. My grandmother took a huge leap of faith and moved to America. She has told us many stories about the racism she experienced and how hard it was to come to a new unfamiliar place. Prior to reflecting on this paper I never thought about parents also being an interracial couple, they are my parents so it is normal to me. As a little girl I grew up knowing very basic Japanese. However, my mother is fluent in Japanese. I grew up hearing my mother and maternal grandparents speak Japanese, majority of the time I was unaware of what they were saying. My father and his family are mainly Caucasian but we do have Cherokee running through our blood. Both of my parents speak English fluently and that was the main language spoken in our household, but my parents did integrate a few Japanese words. My paternal grandparents are a completely different story. They are not accepting of other cultures and I would consider them somewhat racist. When my parents first married my paternal grandmother was extremely rude to my mother and maternal grandmother because she was Japanese. Honestly, it was not until I was older that I was aware of their unfair views on other races. My sophomore year of high school I remember watching the news one evening and seeing them say horrible things about the a few Thunder players. Honestly I had no idea that they felt that way about another race and my eyes were opened. My dad has never been racist nor said anything that hints t... ... middle of paper ... ...and it is normal to them. However, their culture or upbringing may be different from other students in my classroom and myself. I will challenge my students to be open minded and accepting regardless of differences. In the media we continue to see stories that are white privilege. Even though my mom is half Japanese I realize that my family is a true definition of white privilege. As I reflected I began to see that because my family has money we are able to afford a nice house and a good education. I rarely had minorities around me growing up, which is sad to me. Whenever I have children I want to make sure they grow up with diversity. Overall I was very blessed as a child, but I do not want my children to grow up in a white picket fence house hold. In reflecting I am going to make sure in the future that my children are exposed to different races and cultures.

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